I could hear it raining this morning as I waited for the sun to rise, but the clouds dried up by the time it was light enough for me to venture out. Plus, the winds were light, and the air was probably warmer than seasonal, so it was a great morning for all the planned events.
My first treat of the day came early, before I had even reached the pond, when I noticed a bird swoop in to land on one of the guy wires for the towers across the river. I’ve only ever seen a few species perch there, so I held my breath as I brought my binoculars to bear, and sure enough, it’s our first kestrel in a while and the first one of October in Estabrook. Woo hoo!
The catbirds have gone silent over the past week or so, and I thought maybe they had all flown south already. Perhaps most of them have, but I heard and then spotted this straggler by the dog park.
The usual suspects were at the pond, so I continued to the river where this killdeer put on a nice show.
The big surprise at the river, however, was this coot relaxing below a clump of leaves, which I believe belong to a yellow iris. We just saw one at Lakeshore State Park, but it has been a while since one graced the waters of Estabrook. “Welcome back, sweetie!”
Back on shore, I don’t believe I saw a single warbler today, but the trees were hopping with kinglets, both golden- and ruby-crowned, and this is one of the latter.
On my second swing by the pond, most of the photographers had called it a day, or at least moved on to another venue, and the pied-billed grebe and I could just relax. Here it is making another big yawn.
Finally, yesterday’s mourning cloak may have been just a foreshadowing, because I spotted two monarchs today. There was one on the Mexican sunflowers, of course, but this one really surprised me on the grass by the river.
Finally, I did stop by the southern parking lot at 9am, and everyone was either helping to plant trees or picking up trash along the river, but that was just as well. I’m glad folks were giving those two projects the support they deserve. Plus, yesterday afternoon was so nice, and my new waders had just arrived in the mail, so I couldn’t wait and went out to tackle the tires on my own.
Here’s the pile of 19 (two have had the beads cut off, so I stuffed them down into the stacks) that I pulled out of the river around the upstream island. I got six more at the downstream island as well, and stacked those atop the bluff near there. Best of all, there’s still more to do, if that’s what you have your heart set on. I spotted three more tires this morning, if you can believe it, and I could barely budge the broken canoe, so that’s still out there. If you want to join me on my next outing, just give me a shout and we’ll set up a time, ideally before the river rises again.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 